The Art of Effortless Style

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There is an art to looking 'effortless' as opposed to composing your outfit and being perceived as having effortless style. How exactly is true effortless style achieved anyways? What if it was styled to look carefree but sexy at the same time by some stylist? Just how exactly is that specific style defined? I think it's not putting too much thought into how you dress and still looking good, but keeping it simplistic overall so it doesn't look like you spent half an hour debating what goes with what.

In my opinion (though this is subjective), effortless style can be achieved by adopting the less-is-more motto. For example:

• A dress with no other accessories and unnoticeable shoes
• A plain blouse or top with black straight leg pants with a hat
• A loose jacket over a long sleeve blouse with the sleeves rolled up and simple pants (or even a pair of coffee coloured corduory skinny jeans) could look effortless
• Minimal makeup or fresh face OR highlight one feature
• Lightly tousled hair, up in a messy bun, soft waves, etc.
• Limit accessories or skip them
• Low key shoes

All of these points are really just to demonstrate how I perceive people can come off as effortless. I'm no stylist mind you, but the examples do illustrate little to no effort! In high school, I had a classmate who I thought defined effortless. She looked like the epitome of effortless but it was probably just a genuine lack of effort and care for styling herself. After all, it was just school. She would always wear simple tops like a fitted plain tee shirt, a pair of flare-leg denim jeans, and her simple shoes like sneakers. She had minimal makeup (maybe just eyeliner) but she has natural beauty so it wasn't like she really needed anything else. The only part of her that showed effort was her artfully styled hair. And the entire look had me paying attention and thinking, 'how does she always look so effortless everyday?'

The above photos are just some of my favourite examples, most especially the last one! I have a long sleeve gray henley, a pair of plain black skinny pants, and lots of flats. Usually I like to wear that as my go-to effortless outfit..or just any plain old top with a pair of plain pants and flats. I'll pop on some little stud earrings and grab a bag and voila, I'm finished. I always tend to put lots of effort and careful planning otherwise, especially if I'm going out someplace nice, anyways.

To conclude this post, all of what I just wrote doesn't come off as effortless, haha. The key is in the lack OF and having a I-don't-care-this-is-what-I'm-throwing-on-today persona. I just don't currrr.